FORT COLLINS — Colorado State’s interior defensive line was a question mark going into the season. Four games in, it has proven to be a strength. The unit should only improve with the return of its leader.
That may be this week.
Senior Nuku Latu missed the Utah State game with an injured knee. It is still unknown whether he will be available for Saturday’s home game against San Jose State, CSU coach Steve Fairchild said.
“We’ll evaluate during the week,” Fairchild said. “Maybe (he can play). I don’t know. We’ll know a lot more (today) when we try to run around.”
Meanwhile, Fairchild said the team escaped Saturday’s victory without a significant injury. Given the huge number of season-ending injuries CSU has had, that was a welcome occurrence.
“We got a few nicks coming out of there, guys with some ice packs,” Fairchild said Monday. “But it certainly wasn’t the (Northern Colorado) game.”
Fairchild said guard Joe Caprioglio (knee), injured in the CU game Sept. 17, appears to be out for the season.
Sisson healing well. Linebacker Mychal Sisson, injured against Northern Colorado in the Sept. 10 home opener, may be able to rejoin the team before the end of the regular season. Sisson suffered a fractured right ankle that has healed well, Fairchild said.
Sisson said he was told he would be out 6-8 weeks, depending on how fast the ankle healed. If he was out the full eight weeks and still came back to play, it would put him on pace to return for the Nov. 12 home game against San Diego State. Helping Sisson’s cause is the fact that CSU has two bye weeks in the schedule, which gives him extra time to heal without missing games.
“Well, there’s hope, there’s certainly hope,” Fairchild said. “I’d like nothing better than for our football team, but more importantly for Myke, to get a chance his senior year to play another snap of the football.”
Footnotes. Running back Chris Nwoke, who scored the last-minute touchdown in the fourth quarter Saturday that gave CSU a chance to tie the game with a two-point conversion, was honored as a Mountain West co-offensive player of the week. In addition, linebacker Shaquil Barrett (14 tackles, fumble recovery and touchdown) and long snapper Tanner Hedstrom (two recovered fumbles) earned defensive and special-teams player of the week awards, respectively. Nwoke had 85 yards rushing, 17 receiving and two touchdowns. “It feels good,” Nwoke said. “Our team worked hard and just believed in each other and just knew that we could pull off a big win.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
